Finding a Silver Lining
As a nineteen-year old kid, Rich Labadie spent his time going to school, working multiple jobs, hanging out with friends, and competing as a member of the Western Michigan University men’s soccer team. Soccer had always been a huge part of his life growing up.
Labadie grew up in Portage, Michigan, a close 20 minutes from Western’s campus. He started playing soccer at a young age. The first time he kicked a soccer ball he was 4 or 5 years old. From then on, soccer would be one of the biggest and most important aspects of his life. He played for various soccer clubs including TKO Soccer Club and played high school soccer at Portage Northern High School as well.
He wasn’t always the biggest kid on the field, but he had an immense knowledge of the game that he used to his advantage. Not only did he have a high soccer IQ, but one of his biggest attributes was his incredible work ethic. Labadie was used to having to work very hard for everything in his life and that translated to the soccer field. During his senior year of high school, Labadie used his skill, strong work ethic, and knowledge of the game to earn a spot on the Western Michigan University men’s soccer team.
In August of 1986, Labadie joined the team for the first time under the guidance of head coach Blake Glass. As a freshman, he had a very successful season. Labadie was able to play every minute of every game and really helped impact the team. He was learning a lot about the game and gaining more and more confidence in his knowledge and abilities. “I was very fortunate. I didn’t expect anything coming in,” he said. Being a member of the Western Michigan soccer team was his greatest joy at this point in his life.
“I was just fortunate to be part of the whole experience”.
After his successful freshman campaign, he couldn’t wait for his sophomore season to begin, but there was a bump in the road and things did not go as planned. Leading up to the fall semester, Labadie learned that he had a brain tumor and would need surgery to remove it. “I remember very vividly the first comment I made was, ‘well take it out’,” Labadie explained. He didn’t quite grasp how serious this medical condition was. In his head he compared it to getting his tonsils out — you get them taken out and boom, you are back playing a week later. Unfortunately, that isn’t how it works.
Initially, the surgeon explained to him that taking the tumor out might not be possible. “It was kind of a shock. Nothing set in right away. The only thing I thought about was still playing,” said Labadie who was obviously still trying to focus on soccer. Lucky for him, the surgery went off without a hitch and the doctors were able to successfully remove the tumor from his brain.
The recovery process was a tough and lengthy one. Although he didn’t remember much of the surgery itself, Labadie recalls being in the ICU for 3–4 days and then staying in the hospital for another week after that. He recuperated at home with his mom and dad in a recovery process that was anything but easy.
“Walking 100 feet took everything I had”.
He also noticed that he lost some reaction time and balance on his left side. Despite how hard the recovery was, Labadie remained focused on getting back to school. He returned to school just one month after his surgery. On the other side of things, it took almost a whole school year before trainers would clear him to train with the team.
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Labadie’s mindset when rejoining the team was not the same as before. He thought about everything differently. On the field, Labadie was okay with not being the top guy. “I knew how long I had been out,” he said, “I was just happy to be there”. He remained a part of the team for that year, but he was never able to compete in the same way he did his freshman year. Ultimately, Labadie had to accept that he would never be able to play at the level he needed to and chose to forgo his final year of eligibility.
In regard to school, he gained more of a concentration on his education and schoolwork that wasn’t necessarily there before. Soccer was still a big part of his life, but he realized that other things were important as well. He ended up switching his major that school year to focus more on something he was truly passionate about — working with kids. He ended up graduating with a degree in Education in 1992.
This focus on being involved with kids translated to the soccer field. “I saw an opportunity to work with kids and continue to have a passion and focus for soccer,” Labadie said. He was given the opportunity to exert more energy into coaching because he knew he was done playing at the college level. Luckily, he got the opportunity to start coaching with some local teams.
To this day, Labadie continues to coach club soccer at various ages and teaches at a local high school in Kalamazoo. He firmly believes that coaching and education go hand in hand. “If you’re teaching you’re coaching, if you’re coaching you’re teaching”. That is why he is so passionate about what he does. Labadie is confident that he would be coaching even if he had never had the tumor, but the tumor helped speed up the process.
As one would expect, the tumor did serve as a turning point in Labadie’s life. A lot of the emotional, mental, psychological side of things were impacted by the tumor, but not necessarily in a bad way. After experiencing a life threatening medical condition, he looked at everything differently.
“Every opportunity in life is a good one”.
Looking at the big picture, he sees the tumor as a blessing. It gave him a fresh perspective on life. He was lucky to be alive. He was given another opportunity to leave a mark on this world and he wasn’t going to waste it.
Labadie could’ve focused on all the negative from that situation, but he didn’t. He found his passion. He chose to find the silver lining and, sometimes, that’s all you need.
**Published as a class project**
